Buying tips for a Mac virgin.

Alright, pretty much ever since I've touched windows vista over a year ago, I've been dreaming about getting a mac. Now I plan to be holding one in my hands within a month (It's about friggen time.) and would like some input on my choices here...

Since I'm planning on going to school, I would prefer a notebook, and since I'll be paying for school myself, it's going to be a regular macbook (no pro... sob)

My first decision is to go the refurbished route, and replacing the hard drive, and upgrading the ram. With that in mind, I have a few options I haven't decided on.

First, the processor speed? [Edit] Never mind... I've decided, 100%, going for the 2.2Ghz, as there is NO price difference between 2.16, and 2.2 in the store (weird?) and 2.16 limits me to only 2gb's of ram.

Second... black or white? There's really only a $50 difference, and I think black would be more esthetically pleasing, and the black model has an extra 40GB of disc space!

And third... which hard drive do you recommend me buying? And will any hard drive I buy from any manufacturer work as long as it is a 2.5" SATA? I found a 250 GB from western digital, but what's the likleyhood of a 500 coming out soon?, and what could I do with that extra hard drive?

And lastly, I'll be upgrading the ram, probably 4gbs, from a third party, like crucial, easy as pie.

So, in summary,

2.2 GHz Black Macbook - $1100
320 GB HDD - $130 - this is wrong, but I'm to tired and lazy to edit my mistake... whatever.
4GBs RAM - $105

Total price $1335.... just throw in $2 for s+h, and I'll have a 1337 macbook, right? (Har har?)

Say What?? said:

I personally think anythign over 250GB is a waste of money. Do you really think you'll ever use that much space? unless you are hardcore into movies than I could see the need for the extra space. However, look at how much of your harddrive you are using now to decide how much you really need.

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Well, I have a 500GB hard drive on my PC, 110GB of it is music, another 40 or so is personal videos I've made myself (Search for me at youtube! It's hilarious... at least thats what my mom says... ) , and theres a bunch of other crap, so yeah.... a big hard drive would really benifit me.

Of course, I could always keep that external drive, and just transfer files as it need them. I mean, I'm not planning on doing the upgrades right away, but rather over time....

elfjuice said:

Newegg.com has the 4GB of ram on sale for $76.99 (It's Corsair...) shipping included.

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According to the RAM buying guide here, newegg is for the US only? Unfortunately (or rather, fortunately, as I'd like to think of it) I'm Canadian... eh.


So, anyways, I took the plunge, and I should expect my new (refurb'd) blackbook between april 4-10th. YAY!

And after the dent in my wallet heals, I've looked around and decided on these accessories for it.

320GB HDD - $175
4GB RAM - $91
Ext. HDD case - $30

I figgured not to let the original HDD go to waste, so I'll be getting a case for it, then I can put files on there that I don't need with me all the time, but still want around (Like movies or whatever...)

I also plan on getting an airport express (I live in the basement, the routers on the second floor, so the wireless bridging capabilities will definitely come in handy.) and maybe a mighty mouse... depending on how I like the track pad.